I had a friend who's iMac was fried when lightning hit the utility pole in front of her house. Apple gave her a new iMac. I am betting that she was very cordial, did not insist on a solution, did not argue legalities, or use words like "prove it".
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Genius and Manager deny repair as "Act of God" for my AppleCare Protection Plan for M
- Thread starter rkahl
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
"Act of god" is anything where no person or company is at fault. If there was a lightning storm, but you used a surge protector, but the surge protector was faulty, then it's the fault of the company that made the surge protector, not an act of god. But it's still caused by lightning.
Interesting and unexpected. In a similar situation, my home insurance paid for a new Mac for me. (When I called them, their rep said they had claims for about 200 PCs that day).
You seem like a deeply confused and unhappy person. If you have home and contents insurance, make a claim, get a whole new iMac. If you don't, suck it up. There are countless stories of people who get service outside what Apple is required to give, it's happened to me once with an out of warranty, accidental damage logic board issue with my older Macbook Pro. But to get this, you can't be rude to the people you want help from.
Last edited by a moderator:
of course I'm unhappy. Apple is trying to screw me over on what may or may not have caused computer failure.
Last edited by a moderator:
Sorry, but I don't agree. AppleCare is for manufacturer's defects - house insurance is for external causes. You've stated that your belief is that lightening was the cause - and that, in books, is an external cause. Also, one that is stupidly easy to protect yourself against. So... no sympathy from me. Sometimes bad stuff happens that nobody is going to cover for you. Suck it up, pay for the repair, and get a surge protector.
However, have you checked your credit card coverage? Some cards have purchase insurance, and this is exactly the kind of coverage you are paying for with these cards. With luck you used one of these cards to buy the computer. Often the repair is more expensive than a new system, so you get a new system instead.
It was going thru a surge protector! I told the genius it could have been storm related, but I was not sure. I am not an apple genius. I was being truthful and honest, but don't hold me to it. It's not my job to determine the defect. I'm not sure what happened especially after reading all the complaints about this.
You don't need a degree to see that if you had displayed even a modicum of caution, you'd have your iMac and ethernet plugged into a surge protector. I guess they don't teach common sense in law school. Then again, I guess it's easier for you to argue...
I agree. Pay and fight your own battles.
Reading comprehension much? Read my post directly above... they were plugged into a protector. My point is I'm not an apple genius, but it could be something else. I paid for extended applecare to cover hardware issues that stop working. I don't know what caused it.
Why didn't my new MacBook air get fried then, or my iPhone 4s, or my new iPad, or iPod touch? All plugged into the same protector.
If your Ethernet cable went through a surge protector then your surge protector almost certainly covers damage with a warranty/insurance policy. They are liable not Apple in this situation. If you're not willing to claim under homeowner's, then you better call the surge protector manuf.
Quite often the surge comes in via the telephone line, and then the network equipment. The rest of your gear is I guess on wireless connection so wouldn't get the surge.
If the rest of the network kit is fine then likely the Ethernet on the iMac not great and the surge was enough to break the iMac but nothing else.
Of course the problem is in proving it.
If you give a company an excuse to get out of paying they generally will. If you make a claim on the insurance, don't mention anything about the storm.
OMG, sorry if I hit a nerve. Uh yeah, this happened on Wednesday. They have the computer in for repair. I count on applecare before I make a claim on my house $1500 deductible. No. My last resort is contact surge protector. Again, this just happened. I'm counting on applecare for satisfaction. I could understand if it's out of warranty, but if somebody has spent an extra $200 on insurance then give them the benefit of the doubt. Especially if Apple can't replicate the problem.
Last edited:
Sure, up until the OP expects a manufacturer warranty to cover something other than a defect. Then it is either the surge protector warranty or homeowner's to cover it. Expecting Apple (or any other manufacturer) to cover damage that was caused by an outside source is ridiculous.Dang guys, does no one on this forum have compassion or empathy for the OP?
There are some that offer coverage for such things (Lenovo has an accidental policy for instance - which you have to opt in for and the warranty name says accidental) but AppleCare specifically states that it does not.
Huh...?
Don't be a dick. You're embarrassing those of us with college degrees.
----------
Not with the attitude he's displaying, unfortunately.
----------
I believe the mobile power adapters are likely better able to withstand power surges because they worked universally/internationally.
And said adapter isn't housed in the laptop or mobile device, it's external.
Not saying that your iMac wasn't legitimately fried, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was the only one plugged in that had problems.
Don't be a dick. You're embarrassing those of us with college degrees.
----------
Dang guys, does no one on this forum have compassion or empathy for the OP?
Not with the attitude he's displaying, unfortunately.
----------
I believe the mobile power adapters are likely better able to withstand power surges because they worked universally/internationally.
And said adapter isn't housed in the laptop or mobile device, it's external.
Not saying that your iMac wasn't legitimately fried, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was the only one plugged in that had problems.
OP, it's important that you understand the difference between insurance and warranty. AppleCare is warranty, not insurance. This is important because you have an insurance claim, not a warranty claim. Notify your insurance carrier.
Bit of advice.. most surge protectors come with a guarantee that covers anything burnt up that uses the surge protecter. Might want to look into that. Just an idea.
I don't blame you, but I'm surprised you didn't have a hefty surge protector on the thing. My issue with their reply is that while it's likely that this was an issue of negligence. The "acts of god" part has nothing to do with the rest. It mentions electrical surges before that in the section you quoted. The point was that they didn't test it. I'd take this to another store and try again. This time just tell them what's not working, and leave it at that. Allowing them to speculate never helps, and the genius bar is really hit and miss. Many of them are not very helpful or tech literate.
The problem is that consumer electronics are cheap junk with poor quality control, even when we're not talking about products with known issues.
You can find similar comments with a lot of the other oems. I commonly suggest that people stress test their machines both when they arrive and right before the warranty expires to check for potential problems.
You can get all sorts of weird stuff with ethernet ports and lightning. Unless a surge protector has ethernet protection, it won't protect the ethernet port against lightning.
A friend of mine was running a Cradlepoint cellular router a couple of years ago (I was the support person). There was a long run of Cat 5e cable, outside (in PVC pipe) to an outbuilding.
Lightning stuck nearby. The Cradlepoint, which wasn't on a surge protector, was fine except for the ethernet port connected to the long cable. At the other end, the port on the little Asus eeePC was fried. Obviously the strike induced some serious power in the cable.
What surprised me was that none of the other Cradlepoint ethernet ports were damaged at all. I loaned my friend an old Macbook, moved the cable over one position on the Cradlepoint, got her a surge protector with ethernet protection, and all was well.
A friend of mine was running a Cradlepoint cellular router a couple of years ago (I was the support person). There was a long run of Cat 5e cable, outside (in PVC pipe) to an outbuilding.
Lightning stuck nearby. The Cradlepoint, which wasn't on a surge protector, was fine except for the ethernet port connected to the long cable. At the other end, the port on the little Asus eeePC was fried. Obviously the strike induced some serious power in the cable.
What surprised me was that none of the other Cradlepoint ethernet ports were damaged at all. I loaned my friend an old Macbook, moved the cable over one position on the Cradlepoint, got her a surge protector with ethernet protection, and all was well.